Lampton School Partnership

The seed was sown when our Principal Dr. Alan Rodrigues, attended a British Council workshop in Goa in March 2006. Coincidentally, in April 2006 Punam Saini of Lampton School came to Goa in search of a school to partner with. Several meetings later Poonam went back to UK, armed with a video recording of our school and notes to discuss with her management. Subsequently our Principal visited Lampton and interacted with the staff and students and observed good school practices at Lampton. Dr. Rodrigues then shared his experiences with the Vidya Vikas Management. In Lampton, we found a partner school who believes in equality and an excellent team who are committed to raising education standards.

The Driving Force

In partnering with Lampton School we endeavor to open the floodgates of internationalism and let it percolate to every area of school life. While still being rooted in Indian tradition and culture, we would like our students to learn about diverse cultures and appreciate the similarities and differences. We want to expose our students to myriad thoughts and ideas which can challenge their thinking. When they walk out of the portals of the academy, we want them to be world citizens, walking with dignity and broadminded views we hope to improve teaching and learning techniques and raise the standards of education in our school. We want to build bridges of love and friendship that can overcome prejudice.

History Made as Lampton Goes to Goa

Lampton students made history as they flew off to Goa over the February half term to take part in the UK’s first exchange visit to the Indian state of Goa. Goa, known for its palm-fringed beaches, played host to a dozen Lampton students for ten days, who were each ‘buddied’ to a student at the Vidya Vikas Academy – one of Goa’s best performing and most progressive schools.

Ms. Saini, the lead teacher, described it as “A great chance to embed internationalism in the school curriculum by breaking down barriers between cultures – this helps to foster a sense of global citizenship and community.” The exchange programme between the two schools has been recognized by the British Council, a government body that promotes international links, which recently designated the school with the Intermediate International School Award.

Ms. Saini, Mr Caswell and Mr Chana who all supervised the exchange believed the visit was mutually beneficial to all students. It is part of an ongoing programme of student and teacher exchanges aimed at boosting teaching and learning in both schools. Resources from Lampton’s Design and Technology, History and Geography departments have been shared with the Academy in Goa. Meanwhile, Lampton’s English and History departments are planning new units of work together involving video conferences between Goa and Lampton to give pupils in both continents a truly global perspective on their learning.

Since returning from the exchange, Lampton students have been turning their classmates green with jealously with tales from the trip! “It was the most memorable holiday of my life” exclaimed many students; Connor tells of “making lifelong friendships”; while for Harry the “most amazing part of the trip was that it taught me about so many different ways of living and that no matter how much, or how little, someone has, anything is possible.” For Joe the exchange has left such a lasting impression that he “hopes to return to Goa in my gap year to teach at the Academy”. Happily, students will play host to their buddies this summer as Goan students complete the return part of the exchange. Find out in the next Humanities Newsletter how this goes.

Goa to London

Our partnership has thrown open the doors to a wonderful and exciting world, which besides giving us new opportunities, is also very enriching. Investigating the many aspects of similarity between out two schools shows us how much we have in common.

London to Goa

Finding out about our differences lead to understanding of different cultures and respect for our colleagues in other countries. We view global perspectives in so many curriculum areas such as science, geography, technology etc. Though miles separate us, we feel so close. And this is just the beginning. We look forward to a long and lasting partnership.

The Bigger Picture

The partnership has impacted both schools in diverse areas – curriculum, technology, teaching methodology, infrastructure and administration, besides developing closer ties between teachers, pupils and their parents as well. Staff and pupil exchange visits were rich educational experiences and the exposure to a different culture led to appreciation of and respect for people, their customs, traditions and lifestyles. Taking this experience to the next level, our school has linked with schools across Europe and Asia with pupils exchanging ideas and views through projects, letters and e-mails. Having international visitors in the school have resulted in an interesting exchange of ideas on various subjects including environment, global warming, renewable sources of energy, role of the youth etc.